


All Is Well In The Eyes Of The Ignorant

by RandomIdkwid



Series: AIWITEOTI [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: A few unmentioned characters to not spoil too much, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:56:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27715759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomIdkwid/pseuds/RandomIdkwid
Summary: Everything looks nice if you keep your head in the clouds. You believe everything is in your grasp and nothing can stand in your way. Mistakes are not your fault and you look away to seize the day.This is my very first work! I'd appreciate any suggestions plus corrections for wrongs that will inevitably occur.(Discontinued)
Series: AIWITEOTI [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2125038
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Know yourself and believe in who you are. That is the strongest weapon one could possibly have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: mentions of memory loss

...  
....  
.......

"Huh?" ??? woke up, his head pounding as he tries to make sense of his surroundings. For some odd reason, ??? can't seem to figure out where he was, or who he is.

"Why can't I remember anything?" he questioned, murmuring to himself to break the silence. ??? felt very lonely. Lonely? Is that what he is feeling? Eyes adjusting themselves to the bright light.

You can imagine his face, surprised to find out that the moon wasn’t even shining brightly. It was night. Though it was dark, he could make out a container, which oddly looked like a chest, in front of him.

Not knowing what else to do, ??? moved towards the container, opening the lid, and dug out its contents. The inside wasn’t full, there was only a loaf of bread, another set of clothes that looked like what he’s wearing, an empty bag, and a note.

“You’re Tubbo.”


	2. And So He Explores

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The land in this world is limited, but there are still uncovered areas. Explore to the end of the world, and let your true colours shine bright. Be comfortable about who you are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of starving, memory loss, food being low

"Well that's helpful. It's not like a note this big can tell me more like where I am and stuff." Sarcasm really is the best in helpless situations like this. At least he knows his name, it'll help if he finds someone else along the way. Now he doesn't need to think about faking a name.

Tubbo looks around again, he can see miles away, what with the lack of trees and all. It all feels so peaceful. Wind blowing ever so softly, lightly swaying his hair, the green grass makes his eyes all droopy. His mind playing the buzzing sound of the bee to make everything better. Huh?

"That's it! I like bees! I mean, my mind is playing a bee sound, right? And there's not a bee in sight!" Tubbo exclaimed, happy with himself for finding such a discovery. The joy of appreciating the little wonders can bring you a long way. He let his mind wander off to see what else is spontaneously on his mind. Unfortunately for him, he feels a sudden zap and immediately fell. Body touching the dewy grass, his head is throbbing in pain and he started crying on the earthy floor. He'd give anything to not go through this.

By the time his pain had ended, the night has passed by just like the clock promised. Tubbo stands up from his spot, his clothes now dirty from sleeping on the ground. He took his belongings and put them in the empty bag from the chest. Eyes wandering around until it stopped on a forest. The forest looks pretty far but he convinced himself that it’s not that bad.

He starts lightly sprinting for the forest, ignoring his body aching from sleeping on a hard surface. Trying not to think much as to not get another bad headache, he keeps his mind empty with eyes set on the forest. He passes by cows grazing, unintentionally filling his head with the sound of the cows. Maybe it’s just human nature to want a sound significant for the ears.

“I’m not going to make it,” the blond boy whispers to himself as he sees the sun setting down. “Maybe tomorrow, but not today,” he sat down and took out the loaf of bread he got. Carefully ripping off a small piece, he eats the bread slowly though he was starving. He couldn’t fill his stomach as he has not enough food to last a week. The bread will get moldy fast but he can’t just eat it in one go. After finishing his bread, he set up a small bed, if you can call it that. He uses his bag as a pillow and calls it a night.

* * *

The sun greets his morning as he slowly flutters his eyes open. He makes a small grunting noise as he stretches his body wide, relieved from a good sleep. All that running has made him really tired, but he is still determined to reach that forest. Thinking that moving forward is his best (not to mention only) choice, he started sprinting again.

When the day is almost over, Tubbo reached the forest. His hand touching on the tree, the rough texture feeling like home in his hands. The forest isn’t thick, he could see the other side of the forest, revealing a house, small and made out of stones. He moves towards it, somehow feeling connected to the house. His steps sound louder and louder as he approaches the house. There doesn't seem to be any other house near it. He finds the entrance, eyes darting all over the house as he takes it all in. When he reached it, the blond boy decides to knock on the wooden door.

“Hello? What brings you to this house?” A woman with medium length hair answered the door, with a gentle voice she greets Tubbo.

“I think I am lost,” Tubbo said, scrunching the sides of his green shirt, nervous about finally meeting another person.

“What about you come in the house and we’ll talk more about it? Whatever you feel more comfortable with.”

“Thank you, I am Tubbo.” The woman ushered the boy in, gesturing for him to take a seat in the living room. The house itself is not shabby, it looks like a terraced house if it’s alone in the middle of nowhere.

The woman smiles, seeing Tubbo let go of his shirt, the nervousness on his face fading. “Hello Tubbo, I am Niki Nihachu. Nice to meet you!”

Niki takes a seat opposite of Tubbo, facing him. As Tubbo explains as best as he can what happened to him, a man starts walking down the stairs, the sound of boots clunking together loud in his ears. Tubbo stops explaining to take a look at the man.

“Niki, who’s the guest?” the man stops in his tracks, lifting one of his eyebrows. The tense air made Tubbo scrunch his shirt again. He really doesn’t want to cause any problems.

“Come say hi, Eret! He’s Tubbo, and he …. doesn’t have anywhere to go,” her smile fades as her bitter introduction ends. She really likes to be positive and just smile a lot, but his situation isn’t really a laughing matter.

Tubbo starts laughing nervously, realizing that his entry makes him look like one who asks for help. He does need help, but the frown on the woman’s face opposite him breaks his heart. He truly does cause problems, does he? He tries to hide the negative thoughts from his face in front of the two strangers, but it looks like the man sees right through him.

“Don’t worry Tubbo. I’m sure we will help you in any way we can,” though his voice is deep, his words feel soft in the blond boy's ears. For some reason, he feels like he can trust these strangers with his life. Are these two trustworthy? Or does he trust people easily? Either way, Tubbo feels at home here.

Eret decides to take a seat beside Niki, taking off his silver boots ( Tubbo thinks they are for protecting his body, like armor. But what for?) and the three converse about any random topic that comes to mind. When night falls, Tubbo helps Niki and Eret prepare dinner. Laughs fill the dining table as Niki makes sure Tubbo is eating properly. From a stranger’s perspective, they look so much like a happy family. Tubbo almost forgets his weird situation as his heart beats lazily, feeling very safe at the hands of these two people he just met.

After he helped doing the dishes, Niki leads him into a guest room beside the dining table. Explaining the layouts of the house, Tubbo takes note of where everything is. Thanking Niki and Eret for the stay and wishing them good night, Tubbo turns himself in for the day.

“How long would Tubbo be here, Niki? I mean I like the boy, but aren’t his parents worried?”

“That’s the thing Eret, he doesn’t know where his parents are, or whether they even exist.”

“What are you implying? It sounds like he lost his memory or something,”

Niki looks at Eret, blue orbs looking glassy, tears frame her eyes as she couldn’t take in how horrible Tubbo’s situation is. Eret pats her back and pulls her in for a hug. She can feel the man’s heartbeat and lets it calm her down. “It’s okay Niki, we promised Tubbo we will help in any way we can. He can stay here as long as he needs. I’m sure everything would be alright.”

Niki lets go of the hug, thanking Eret for staying by her side all these years. He always knows the right thing to say, calming his friend every time she feels sad. The feeling is mutual, and they thank fate for meeting them together. They share a few laughs as they walk upstairs to their rooms.

* * *

Tubbo walks away from the door. The blue-eyed boy knows it’s bad to eavesdrop, but he can’t help it when he hears his name. He puts his bag down beside the bed and lets himself fall on the mattress. His mind is wondering about the meaning of the conversation he just heard. For one, he is thankful they are willing to help, but he feels bad for Niki. They just met, and she’s already crying because of him. No one is there to see his face, so he doesn’t mind about how it looks like. Tubbo tries to reason with himself, saying that this is not his fault. He falls asleep with his mind filled with negative thoughts, and his dream isn’t any better.


	3. A Fate Worse Than Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No man is a man without death foreshadowing his life. ~TommyInnit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Implied comatose state, shouting, graphic depiction of injury

“OH GEORGEEEE!!!” Dream shouts, chasing after the boy in the blue shirt. It’s just another day, playing a game called “Task Hunt”. George is getting obliterated by his opponent, Dream, having only done a quarter of his list and dying multiple times. His opponent, however, competitive as always, almost finished all the tasks and hasn’t died once. Sapnap usually joins in on the fun, but he caught a cold yesterday and is trying to rest in bed the whole day. Thus, Dream and George did “Task Hunt” together, and everything is all good fun, until it’s not.

“Get off of me, Dream! DREAAAAAM!!” George tries his best to fight off the tall man before him, swords clashing as he prays for his life. “I swear I’ll leave you for however long you want!”

“ That doesn’t matter, Georgie! I only have 1 task leeeft!” Dream wheezes after his statement, confident that he’s going to win. In his mind, George couldn’t do anything to surpass him for now. Even so, he wants to feel the excitement of sending the man in blue back to his bed, courtesy of the respawn point. He stabs the man, and George fell down in one hit. Dream laughs until his throat starts to hurt.

Blood gushing down from his sword, he plays with its hilt and calms himself down. _George will come back soon and he’ll start whining like a sore loser,_ he thought, his smile widens at the thought that he’d have another victory to brag. He sorts out his inventory with his right-hand hologram (God knows how that works, Dream couldn’t figure out the mechanism behind it) as his smile fades. Something is wrong, very wrong.

“George?” Dream stares at his friend’s body, wondering why he isn’t respawning yet. He looks at the wound he caused, almost vomiting when he sees George’s insides, his guts spilling out, blood spreading faster everywhere. There’s a visible pool of red around George. _What is happening?_ his green orbs start tearing unintentionally, _Why is George not respawning? Why am I seeing a …._ What is this?

“GEORGE! ANSWER ME! PLEASE, AT LEAST TWITCH OR SOMETHING? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”, the man in green starts uncontrollably shouting. Hands struggling to stop trembling, he waves open his left-hand hologram, sending a message to Sapnap.

<Dream> sap are you the re ? somethings wrong with gogs

He couldn’t care less about his typos, hands immediately reaching for a health potion in his bag. He gently places the glass bottle on his dear friend’s mouth, slowly lifting it up as George seemingly empty the entire container.

<Dream> sap are you the re ? somethings wrong with gogs

<Sapnap> What happened? I saw his death message but he’s not in the house.

<Dream> He’s in my arms right now, he’s not respawning for some reason

The health potion seems to work, as the effect lets the wound close itself very slowly. George is starting to twitch a little, making Dream sigh in relief. He is not showing any signs of waking up soon but him living is good enough.

* * *

Sapnap walks towards George’s bedroom. He opens the door slowly, praying that nothing bad happened to the bed. However, he is shocked that nothing changed. _Everything seems normal enough, his bed is still intact. Why is he not respawning?_ As the man continue wondering, he’s left with more question than answers.

Wondering if there’s any news, he walks out to their shared mailbox. It had a letter, just as the black-haired man expected. He cautiously rips apart the letter, which came from the World News Corp., a trusted news company.

**URGENT NEWS**

**TODAY, many people have been reporting about their family or friend’s respawning point not working. We are still researching as to what has happened. In the meantime, everyone from around the world is heavily advised to be careful. YOU WILL NOT RESPAWN IF YOU DIE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. If you are a cleric, please help those around you as we received information that healing potions can help soothe the pain but the person will not wake up. Again, please be patient, we are currently studying this phenomenon. Everyone will be updated as soon as we receive more information. If you, however, think you can be of help for our research, please come to the village near the natural spawn point. Thank you for your cooperation.**

<Sapnap> Dream, come home, you need to see this.

<Dream> What is it?

<Sapnap> A letter from WNC.

<Dream> Oh no.

<Sapnap> Oh no indeed.

* * *

Dream is carrying George on his back, as well as their stuff from the Task Hunt. They’re all very heavy, but Dream wouldn’t let it get to him. He’s bringing his friend back home to help him heal better. The blond is not giving up, especially after giving the brunet 3 healing potions just to fully close the wound, not to mention he had to wait for 2 days for it. He and Sapnap had been constantly messaging each other, assuring that he will arrive home soon, and Sapnap has been trying to locate him to help carry the items.

“Found you!” Sapnap wakes him up from his trance. Dream had been so deep in thought that he didn’t realize Sapnap running towards him. “If you don’t mind.” Sapnap continues to take all their stuff and walks beside Dream.

“WNC doesn’t appear to have any update yet, or any worth mentioning, I guess” Sapnap mentions. Dream’s face looks surprised as his friend seems to know exactly what’s on his mind. Dream isn’t a very readable person to begin with, but maybe his worry for George’s life affected him.

“I’m sure everything will be alright, Dream. We nurse George at home and he will be up and going in no time.” Dream obviously didn’t believe Sapnap’s words, but so did Sapnap. The man in white clothing is just trying to cheer both of them. All these negative thoughts aren’t helping George’s case, so they might as well be positive about it.

Arriving home, Sapnap opens the door and put their stuff in the storage room. Dream lays George down on the couch, then sits right beside him. The green-eyed man is very tired and falls asleep right there. Sapnap pitying his two friends, brings both of them back to bad and tucks them in. It was hard, but that’s the least he could do to help right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those who are confused with my interpretation of the game's mechanic
> 
> Right-hand hologram: Inventory ( no crafting )  
> Left-hand hologram: Chatbox ( they can only talk with people they've synced their holograms with )  
> I've also decided to add a "magic mailbox" that gives them urgent news from WNC


	4. Hidden Meaning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RXZlcnl0aGluZyBpbiBsaWZlIGhhcHBlbnMgZm9yIGEgcmVhc29uLiBJdOKAmXMgbmV2ZXIgbHVjaywgaXTigJlzIG5ldmVyIGEgY29pbmNpZGVuY2UuIEl04oCZcyBhbHdheXMgZmF0ZS4gQXMgZXZlcnl0aGluZyBoYXMgYSBtZWFuaW5nIGJlaGluZCBpdCwganVzdCB3YWl0aW5nIGZvciBpdCB0byBiZSB1bmNvdmVyZWQu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: mention of anxiety attacks

There’s a knock on the door. Tubbo rubs his eyes and sleepily walks towards it. “Niki?”

Niki looks at him, her expression looks fierce, her stance unfriendly. “We need to talk.”

Niki leads him to the dining table, and motions him to seat in front of her. “I think you need to leave the house.”

“Wha- Why? I thought… I- uhh..” the boy stutters, shocked to see the woman acting so unpleasant. He crinkles his shirt, tears starting to form in his eyes.

“I don’t need to explain why. You’re causing us a lot of trouble.” Niki explains sternly. She looks so impatient with the boy that if stares could kill, Tubbo would be dead.

“ Pack up your things right now, liar. You don’t deserve our care.” Eret chimes in from behind him. The boy startled a bit, he didn’t expect Eret to be behind him.

“What do you mean liar? I..I have never lied to you guys..” Tubbo answers, his voice getting lower by the second, he’s scared of what they might do to him.

“Care to explain this?” Niki pulls up a note, the note in fact, but instead of the words “You’re Tubbo”, it read “ I found Niki and Eret, thank god they didn’t notice who I am, and they have let me in their house to stay the night. I eavesdropped and heard they were kind enough to let me stay however long I need to. I’ll get back to you, My Esteemed Ruler, and I’ll bring both of them back.”

_Huh?_ Tubbo finds it very hard to read the letter. The words kept … moving or something like that. Niki lets out a disappointed sigh and reads it aloud. The anger in her voice rises as she reaches the end of the message. Eret takes a chair beside Niki, his face looks like he is at a loss for words. He puts down his sunglasses, revealing eyes of white. Purely white, no pupil no nothing.

Tubbo squeaks out a sound of shock, there is so much that doesn’t make sense. The boy pleads for his innocence, truly he doesn’t understand how the letter changed to what Niki read. Eret’s revelation is far from his concern right now. He wants to shout, to let out his stress, but he calms himself down.

“ It doesn’t matter anymore, Niki packs up, we need to go to” Eret stops Tubbo from begging. He expressed disgust at Tubbo, that it breaks the bee-loving boy’s heart a little. He has a lot of questions on his mind.

_What did the letter mean? Why does Eret say they need to leave? Why can’t I read the letter? What is happening? Why can’t I understand anything?_

Tubbo breaks from stress. He shouts at the top of his lungs.

* * *

“Tubbo! Are you okay?” Niki knocks on the door a bit louder. She starts to worry for him. Anyone would, her guest had screamed so loud she could hear it in the kitchen. Out of worry, she instinctively opens the door, to see Tubbo perked up on the bed. His body is drenched in sweat, his breathing is very heavy, and his eyes are wide open. He doesn’t seem to notice Niki, and looks deep in thought. Niki slowly walks toward him.

“Tubbo? Can you hear me?” Niki says, making sure to keep her voice low. The boy suddenly shakes his head violently, trying to snap out of whatever he was in. Still, Tubbo is very anxious. Niki helps with taking a towel near her, and wiping off the sweat glands on his face. The woman tries circling her hand on Tubbo’s back. Eret who has been watching them for a moment, decides to fetch Tubbo a glass of water. He gestures the anxious one to drink it slowly. A great practice to steady your breathing. Niki pulls the boy in for a hug, making shushing noises to calm him down. Eret joins in after Niki motions him to. Comfortable silence envelopes the three, and they keep it like so.

That is until Eret decides to break it. “ You want to talk about it?” Tubbo looks at the man in sunglasses, biting his lower lip. A bit scared, the boy starts lightly shaking his head. He doesn’t want the two people he knows to distrust him. For all he knows, that dream could have a hidden meaning. Eret understands, and softly mentions a statement that struck the bee boy’s heart. “It’s okay, Tubbo. Whatever happens, we’ll be beside you.”

Letting go of the hug, the three prepares breakfast together. Niki insists Tubbo to sit at the table and just enjoy the meal, but the boy in green feels bad letting them do all the work. _He’s such a pure boy, what’d happened if that goat finds us? Would Tubbo run with us? Or would we have to leave him to save him from that tyrant?_ The thought crosses Niki’s mind, but she tries not to let it get to her. She decides on baking a cake for the occasion because everybody loves cake, right? Even if it’s not a very healthy food to start the day, she thought that this was a good way to cheer Tubbo up.

* * *

As the three eat the cake together, Tubbo suddenly looks at Eret and asks, “Can you- Can you take off your sunglasses? We’re not outdoors.” Eret and Niki both look at him instantly, surprise written all over their faces. The moment is awkward as Tubbo tries to reason with them about the question and frantically apologizing for unpleasant behaviour. He’s just curious about his dream, but he doesn’t tell them about it.

“ Tubbo, is there something important we should know?” Eret asks, his face full of concern, Tubbo is not sure what to think of it.

“Promise you won’t think any less of me or leave me.” Tubbo quietly utters under his breath, but somehow the two understood what he said.

“Of course, Tubbo.” Niki sweetly smiles, putting Tubbo a bit more at ease. The green boy explains his actions, talking about his dream, and sparing no detail. The adults in front of him listen patiently, not interrupting him even when he stutters.

“It’s okay, Tubbo, it’s just a nightmare. That would never happen Tubbo.” Niki assures him, getting up from her seat and pulling him in for a hug. The woman let Tubbo cry on her shoulder, making sure she isn’t the first one to let go. While this happened, Eret goes outside for a while. The hug lasted for what felt like forever. Tubbo wants to continue hugging Niki, but he feels bad about troubling the woman when _he_ interrupted their breakfast.

* * *

As Eret walks back in with a letter in hand, the two had already finished their helping. Eret looks for Niki and passes the note in his hand. Tubbo wonders about its content, but settles on it just being something private. He is absolutely wrong.

“What do you mean it’s not a drill? Is there supposed to be a drill for this?”

“I’m pretty sure they were panicking. They were probably trying to include as much information as they can as fast as possible.”

“What does this mean for us, Eret? We’re on the run. What about Tubbo? What abou-“

“Niki calm down. I’m sure there’s a reason behind it. For now, all we can do is try to survive.”

Tubbo listens in on the commotion in the kitchen. He really does not like to eavesdrop, and he was not trying to, but the two were discussing about it very loudly. It stops as the two walks back to the dining table. Niki looks at Tubbo, an unpleasant expression on her face.

“We need to talk.” Tubbo’s heart stops.

“We promise that it’s not about the dream, we think you should know.” Niki starts, trying to make sure the shocked teen isn’t misunderstanding the situation.

“We have to be careful. Respawn doesn’t work anymore, not sure if it’s everyone, but we wouldn’t want to risk it. And uhh… your dream had a bit of accuracy that is scary, but we didn’t think we had to mention it this soon.”

“Basically Tubbo, we are on the run from a person. He says we are very dangerous people, but we had done nothing wrong. Though this place is very far from where we used to be, I had a few close calls myself while making rounds around the perimeter.”

“And because of that…..” Eret pauses, not knowing how to continue his sentence. They haven’t discussed what to do about the situation, and he doesn’t want to make any drastic decisions of his own. He remembered what had happened when he did.

“ We want to know your thoughts about this. We’re putting your life in danger, so you should be the one making decisions” Niki explains, while playing with her hands. She is very nervous. Their situation is putting Tubbo in danger and they still try to give the blue-eyed boy a place to stay. Their promise wasn’t empty, it’s just they’re promising more than what they could afford.

Tubbo stands up from his chair, and hugs both Niki and Eret. They are shocked by his reaction, but they return the hug as well.

“ Thank you so much for all you have done. Of course I’ll stay with you. I’ll- I’ll gather supplies with you Eret! And.. and I’ll bake more cake with Niki. I’ll help keep watch of the house, anything really. It’s going to be alright. Please don’t leave me” Tubbo’s blue eyes start to water, finding it hard to word his gratitude. These people have been nothing but help to him. He doesn’t want to lose them, ever. He’s still scared that they would leave him, no matter the reason.

“Of course, Tubbo, of course,” Niki mutters softly. Eret lets go of the hug, taking a few steps back.

“Now that we agree to stay together, let's sync our holograms!” Eret cheerfully shakes his left hand, gesturing for Tubbo to do the same.

“Sync our holograms? What is that?” Tubbo looks at Eret confused. The other two shoot him a confused look too.

“ You know, so we can speak with each other through the hologram,” Niki explains, showing Tubbo her left-hand hologram. The teen in green shakes his hand like the other two did, surprised to see a hologram. _It looks like it's for texting, but how did I get this?_

“ You must’ve forgotten about it when you …. lost your memory. But now we can sync our holograms together!” Niki changes back to the subject at hands. She thought it would be better not to bring it up for discussion yet.

“How do you do that?” Tubbo questions, getting dizzy of all his new discoveries. He still has so much to learn, and he knows that.

“Well, we face each other, and line up our hologram, put out your hand like this.” Niki puts her hand in front of her. As Tubbo does the same, he can slowly see the woman’s hologram and tries to line them up. “Now all you have to do is wait. Oh also, you can only see other people’s hologram when you’re syncing up with them. Your hologram also only opens up when you want to do it. People can’t force you to sync up with them if you don’t turn your hologram on.”

Tubbo nods, trying to take in all the information. He continues to sync up with Eret too. Seeing how much in the dark he is, Niki and Eret explain more about life and any subject that comes around it. They teach him how to whisper, (Tubbo thinks it’s just like private messaging, though he doesn’t know why) and they continue to have just a conversation of whatever question in Tubbo’s mind. The boy gets to learn how to manage his inventory, and found out that it doesn’t matter what your dominant hand is, the holograms are all the same. When he asks how they obtained holograms in the first place, Niki just shrugs her shoulders and says “It’s not something you get, everyone is just born with it. No one ever questioned it.”

* * *

As the days pass by, Tubbo gets more comfortable with Niki and Eret. He doesn’t remember anything before his blackout, so he’s not sure if he had any family or friends before. What he is sure though, that he has two figures he can always look up to, the brunet man and the blue-eyed woman. He is walking with Eret, slowly humming a song that is on his mind. He can’t put a name to the song, but he knows he likes it.

“We’re here,” Eret stops walking, pointing his hand at a cave of some sort. “If the respawn point is not working, our next best bet is to make healing potions.”

“We’re mining potions?” Tubbo scratches his head. Eret laughs a bit at the boy’s demeanor.

“No, we need to mine _gold_ for glistering melons. Niki is farming melons and nether warts for it, as well as making a, well, a well, so that we could have sustainable water.”

“Wait, Niki’s doing all that while we just mine for gold? Why don’t we help her?” Tubbo expresses, his voice a bit louder than intended. Eret can understand why.

“No, after this we’re going to the nether to find more blaze rods or glowstone. We use blaze powder to cook up the potion. Glowstone dust can strengthen the healing potions effect. At least from what I heard. And if we get lucky enough, we’ll find a few magma cubes to get fire res- You know what, I’ll tell you more when we get there,” Eret starts trailing off while walking downwards the stairs in the cave. Tubbo silently follows behind him, chuckling a little when the man starts talking more than he meant to.

They fill in the silence with empty talk, just trying to enjoy themselves. Again, Eret stops when he reaches his next destination, and Tubbo follows suit. The man wearing the sunglasses enters what Tubbo thinks is an underground bunker. The elder gestures the younger to come in this house.

“Take these,” Eret shoves a shield and a pack at the boy. Tubbo holds on to the shield and takes a look at the pack’s content. _There is a pickaxe, an axe, a shovel, and a big kni- sword in here, all made of steel, or iron, perhaps._ Tubbo absentmindedly knocks his head with his hand softly when he accidentally thought the sword was a “big knife”. Though Eret didn’t notice it. The man continues to open a chest and takes out a few iron ingots and walks towards a box in the corner. He places the iron ingots in a specific way and somehow produces a helmet?

“How did you do that? There’s no way that happens!” Tubbo shouts, hands touching his temples, with a surprised face. Eret faces him and makes a confused look. _How could this boy be surprised by normal things? What the hell is his past?_

“What do you mean? This is how we craft things. We put it in a certain order on the crafting table, and the table makes it for us. See?” Eret decides on making a pair of boots. He places four iron ingots in a specific place and taps the table. The iron ingots change into a pair of boots. Tubbo thinks he might’ve just created a new language with all the different faces he’s making.

“That aside, here’s your armour, it's new so it's better. Use your shield to block attacks, your sword to atta-“

“ Wait, hold up hold up. What attack? Wha- Jus- Huh?” Tubbo stutters, not sure what to make of this situation. He knows that he forgot about what had happened to him, but it can’t be this weird. Or is he weird? He doesn’t know anymore.

“ Tubbo, I am very concerned. I mean it’s understandable that you’d forget your past and all, but to not know life’s basics like your hologram and crafting…. It’s like you came from a whole different world.” Eret comments on the boy’s weird demeanor. He is now tapping Tubbo’s back to get an answer out of him but also assuring him that it’s okay. Eret thinks he can handle the truth. Well, at least he thinks he does.

“ I just don’t know anymore, none of this feels real. I’m pretty sure you can’t do that. Or the holograms thing either, or potions. It just feels very surreal, like a game or something,” Tubbo starts wrinkling his face, his voice sounds very panicky. He starts just rambling about what he doesn’t understand. Eret tries to calm the anxious one, but Tubbo’s head starts pounding more and more, that he fell unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me writing my first story in ao3: >:DDDD  
> Me realizing a chapter is actually around 3000 words: :I


	5. The One Worth Fighting For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know you can do this. If you’re scared, borrow the strength of others who will be there to help you. Think of everyone you’re helping, and let that be your strength. ~Kaede Akamatsu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of self-blaming, implied comatose state, heavy swearing, shouting, fighting between friends, implied missing person, implied depression, angst

It’s been a few months since George is alive. He’s still alive, per se, but he might as well be dead. Dream and Sapnap have been gathering ingredients for the healing potions. With blaze powder and glistering melons high on demands, they could only afford to give George one potion every two weeks. They start losing hope of ever getting George back, but neither vocalize this thought as it would really hurt the other to know they feel the same. They have suspicions that it is so, but confirmation is not what they need right now. They need assurance.

George is tucked in his bed. Dream and Sapnap take turns taking care of his human needs. This had never happened to anyone before, but with the respawn not working, they did whatever that came to mind. Today is Sapnap’s turn to take care of George. The man in white steps closer to his friend.

“Hey, George. Today is the 45th day of me taking care of you. Dream’s out mining some gold for you. We’re running out of glistering melons. If- If you hear this, please try to wake up. We miss you so much. Dream had little to no sleep after you… after you became like this. He doesn’t want to talk about it, but I’m sure it’s serious. *chuckles* I can’t believe how strong you are, still trying to stay alive. Or are you already permanently dead? Whatever it is we won’t give up.”

Sapnap stops talking when he notices a drop of tear on George’s cheek, slowly descending towards the pillow, making it wet on the spot. The man in white starts crying, seeing the small hope present itself in front of him. A sign that George is alive. A reaction, other than just body heat and the constant need to clean him. He reacted to Sapnap’s talking. The younger one hugs the elder, a bit awkward position as Sapnap is sitting and George is laying down, but he doesn’t care. Any sign of hope, as little as it may be, is good enough for him. He waves his hologram open, telling Dream the good news. Dream didn’t respond, but the younger is sure he is just busy mining.

After he finished taking care of George, he walks toward their shared kitchen. He reminisces about the time they spend together. Enjoying his trip through the memory lane, it fills him with a warm feeling. He sheds another tear, before continuing with his day.

* * *

“Hey Phil, what do you want in the cookies?”, a man in his 20’s asks, looking at the middle-aged man across the room. The mentioned man didn’t answer, he continues to stare at a picture pinned on the wall. He sheds a tear, “One day, I’ll find you. I promise.”

“Phil?” the man feels a tap on his shoulder, and instinctively looks beside him.

“I’m sorry Wilbur, what was it?”

“ I asked what you want in the cookies.”

“ Just chocolate chips, no nuts.”

“Okay then,” Wilbur walks away to the bowl of cookie dough, adding a generous amount of chocolate chips to it. Phil watches his son, a small smile forming on his face.

“ Hey bitch, did you take my fucking sword? You better not, bitch!”, a teen in a red and white shirt storms in the house. He starts making his way to Wilbur, who answers his question nonchalantly.

“No, I did not take your fucking sword,” Wilbur’s face was bland, he had enough of his younger brother, “ and wash your hands before eating, gremlin.” He swats his brother’s hand from the previous batch of cookies he made, waiting for it to cool. Even so, Tommy still took one.

“ Stop fucking calling me a gremlin, bitch.” Tommy heads upstairs and starts making a racket.

“ Make sure you clean up after yourself or we’re going to lose more than your sword,” Phil shouts, now taking a seat on their couch in the living room. He takes the nearest book and busies himself with it.

“Yeah, whatever Philza” Phil just chuckles hearing the angry boy’s response. His minds wander off to when they were just like this, but with another by their side. All is good and they’re happy with that. _What happened? Where did it go wrong?_

“The cookies are ready! Should we box them up and give them to our neighbours now?” Wilbur shouts from the kitchen. Phil puts down the book, (to be honest, he couldn’t find himself reading any more than the first sentence) and answers the man. “Sure, who do you want to give these to?”

“I thought this was your idea?” Wilbur raises one eyebrow, looking at his dad standing beside him. _It’s what I think it is, isn’t it? Phil… When will you accept that he’s not coming back?_

“Oh yeah, I just forgot. We’ll just see who wants them. You know, just knock on doors and give them. They’ll like the gesture.”

“ O- Okay then, Phil. I’ll get to it.” Wilbur doesn’t like to bring up the sensitive topic. It is inevitable that his dad will take longer to accept that his brother is not coming back, but it seems to have affected him very deeply. He didn’t know why now, all of a sudden. Back then, his father was more optimistic about finding him. Maybe the news makes him think otherwise.

Tommy comes down with his sword, just to see that his dad is staring at a picture on the wall, not even noticing that he’s beside him. “It’s okay Phil, I’m sure everything will be alright.”

Phil, trying to hide his tears away, just decides to smile at his youngest child. _Good old Tommy, he’s the same as always. He can be annoying at times but he’s the one who keeps our spirits high. Oh, if only you could see us now. Please come home, my son. We really miss you. It’s almost been a year….. Please tell me you are…._ He couldn’t finish his thought, and he can never will.

* * *

Tubbo wakes up on a bed. His vision is still blurry, and his head is pounding. He can hear @5#%’s voice, asking for him to wake up. The voice is asking him to wake up. The sound is ingrained in his brain, telling him he needs to wake up. It lingers in his surrounding, Tubbo needs to wake up. Tubbo needs to wake up. _I need to wake up. Wake up._

_“ 3$^^+ , please wake up, please…”_

_“ Is 3$^^+ going to be okay?”_

_“He will be out soon, I’m sure. I’m trying, @5#%”_

_“ You can’t just say that and not do much, 0#(5 >!”_

_“ What do you mean?! I’ve barely sleep trying to fix this! It’s you who needs to be more patient! Even his parents are more understanding!”_

_“You muffins, this is not the time to argue! 3+ >>~, calm down, 0#(5> is trying to focus.”_

_“ It’s been a full fucking week; I don’t think I can take it anymore.”_

_“ Hey 3+ >>~, you can leave if you need to, it’s late already.”_

_“ I’m not leaving my best friend until he wakes up! I just... I just can’t.._ ”

_“ I think we all need to leave, not just you 3+ >>~, let’s give 0%(5> some space.”_

_“Thanks ^50, I really appreciate it.”_

_“ Make sure you sleep, 4%5~”_

_“ I will,”_

Tubbo can recognize those voices. _I can? I… I can, why can I? Who are they? What is happening?_

“ Tubbo, can you hear me? Are you finally awake?” Eret gently rubs Tubbo’s shoulder. The man is sitting beside the bed, facing the awakened boy, with Niki on the other side. Eret had called the woman when he noticed Tubbo’s eyes slowly opening. They were waiting patiently for Tubbo to fully wake up.

“Where are the others? How are you here? You weren’t talking just then with me? Who are they even?” Tubbo’s mouth starts asking a lot of questions, but he was too weak to voice it loud enough for the two.

“Tubbo, you need to rest more, it seems. Thank god you didn’t need any healing potions it seems. You just have a fever.” Niki smiles sweetly at the sick teen, reassuring him that everything’ll be alright.

“Did you get the gold? For the potions? I’m sorry I can’t help you yesterday, Eret” Tubbo apologizes, thinking he had troubled them so much. Ever since he was welcomed in the house, he had cried, hugged, screamed, and fainted. He did help with the house chores, but that doesn’t repay all that he has done.

Eret and Niki look at each other. _Of course Tubbo doesn’t realize it’s been a full month since that happened._ The woman makes a signal to the man to not mention how much time has passed. “ Yeah… we got enough gold for the potions. Don’t worry Tubbo, have this, you should really eat.”

The white-eyed man helps the boy sit down on the bed. He continues to lay a tray on Tubbo’s lap. A couple slices of bread, a cup of tea, and bits of chicken. Tubbo is grateful for them. He eats the food with Eret’s assistance. Niki seems to be setting up a bath for Tubbo. Although reality seems a bit shaky, and his logic somehow doesn’t apply to this world, he’s sure with these two’s help, he can relearn about what’s normal and what’s not. He still wonders about the conversation he just heard. The names sound familiar, but he can’t make out who they are. He figures the mystery will be solved soon.

* * *

As Dream enters their humble abode, he sees Sapnap sleeping on the couch. He just came back with a bag full of gold and glowstone dust, but no one is there to welcome him. For a moment, he felt alone. Drifting in the sea, the raging storm is near, though he stands still on his raft, so small he couldn’t sit. He could feel the calm in the storm of feelings that are going through him.

_If only…. If only I didn’t listen to my greed… If only I knew the respawn wasn’t working, none of this would happen…. It’s a miracle Sapnap didn’t kick me out right then and there…. Is permanent death a thing? I’ve only heard fairy tales of a different world that respawning doesn’t exist….. but that couldn’t be true right?.... People all over the world have died and people couldn’t figure out what to do with the body,…. If it ever comes to that, what would we do with George?..... Would we bury him in the ground, or drift him in a boat to float off the ends of earth?..... Why is it so scary?.... Why were we never prepared for this?.... I wonder if our parents are still alive…._

Dream shakes his head, trying to let it go. He has a hard time breathing as of late, but he couldn’t let Sapnap worrying about him. He had caused too much trouble for his two friends, so he just shut his emotions out and numb them. He doesn’t realize he’s shutting Sapnap too, indirectly hurting his friend. “Hey, you okay there buddy?”

Sapnap snaps him out of his trance, and Dream realizes that all of his stuff is gone. He’s standing there empty-handed, like a hunter who failed to capture the wanted, asking for forgiveness from the king. “ I just said, I put your stuff in our storage room, Dream, do you want to eat?”

Dream could hear his friend, but he feels like there’s a mountain between them. The distance is so great yet so little, as if he could see his friend, but he couldn’t hear his own heart beating. Words try to crawl out of his mouth and it tastes so disgusting, like he just had worms for breakfast, though not a single peep comes out. His eyes, though as mesmerizing the jade colour could be, look blank. His expression is so uneventful, white would look like a rainbow. The excitement has drained from his body, that Sapnap felt like the man in front of him is just an empty vessel, that there’s no soul inside of it anymore.

“You know what, Dream? You can go rest first, you must’ve been so tired from all the mining, judging by all the stuff you managed to get. I’ll cook dinner and wake you when I’m done, okay?”

“No. Not today, Sapnap.”

His heart shattered, but he kept quiet.

* * *

There’s knocking on the door. > _Answer it._ Phil walks up to the door, and opens it for the person.

“Hey Phil, I just wanted to say thanks for the cookies. I wasn’t home when it was delivered, but the note said it’s from you,” a neighbour, it seems. > _Say no problem._

“ No problem, Sam. My son felt like baking, and I thought it was a nice gesture.” Phil looks at the person with a sweet smile, hoping they didn’t notice the emptiness of those words, void of feelings. He really doesn’t want to upset anyone, but he just felt different today.

“ I brought a cake in exchange! I thought I could give you something back. Hope you like chocolate~” Sam cheerfully lifts his package, motioning Phil to take it from his hands. > _Say_ _thank you_

“ Thank you, Sam. I’m pretty sure we will enjoy this for dessert tonight.” Phil could get an award for acting like everything’s fine, seeing how Sam doesn’t notice it (or at least, doesn’t comment on it). “Okay, I’ll be going off now, bye Phil!”

Phil locks the door and drops the act. He shouldn’t have let the pictures up, but he can’t take it down. His hand trembles, his eyes water, and his teeth grits, every thought of taking down _his_ pictures breaks him. In the end, his feelings are too powerful for him. He could just drop down and let himself be vulnerable, thinking there’s no one there to watch him.

Wilbur looks at him through the stair’s railing, hiding himself a bit to not let Phil notice him. His father, the one who raised him and his two brothers, now shaking on the ground, silently crying as he could see the carpet’s getting wetter by his tears. He decides to just walk down the stairs, asking the man to rest. Phil just nods his head, wiping his tears and steadying his breath. He doesn’t like his son seeing him cry. He’s supposed to be strong at times like this. The younger assures him that it’s alright.

After hearing his dad locks his bedroom door, Wilbur tears bits of paper, measuring them to the pictures on the wall. _I hope Phil is okay with this._ He gently tapes the bit of paper on the pictures, making sure the tape can be removed without damaging the picture. He positions them in such a way that every picture has one thing in common. A face that is covered, for none to see them ever again. That is, until the owner of the face comes back home.

* * *

“Hey Eret, can I ask you a question?” Tubbo opens his mouth during dinner, shocking the other two as they were not talking, all were enveloped in comfortable silence, well, apparently all except Tubbo.

“What is it, Tubbo? Is it about the sunglasses again?” Eret raises his eyebrow. He didn’t mean to sound spiteful, but the second question came out rather condescending.

“N- no, it’s not about your glasses, but do orphans exist in this world? You know, since people couldn’t permanently die before.”

“What do you mean? Orphans are just kids who aren’t accepted into any family when they were spawned.”

“How are kids accepted into a family in the first place?”

“Well, kids would sometimes spawn in villages, and if they’re lucky, they have a family with parents who wants to raise a child. There are many parents who couldn’t get a hold of a kid for their own, and there are just kids who can’t find a family to accept them. And if one is unlucky enough, they would spawn in the middle of nowhere, with a chest full of basics in front of them. If that’s the case, then they’d have to figure out life on their own.”

Tubbo’s eyes widen. Eret’s last statement made him thought about his first memory. He feels like that couldn’t be the case, if he was just spawned, he wouldn’t be this old right? Right? He doesn’t realize that Eret had realized what he just said, and so does Niki. They all look at each other, and it feels like it all clicks. The whole house goes silent, and it felt like forever. The silence is suffocating Tubbo, though he couldn’t find the right words, as if he was lost in the ocean, struggling to reach for land.

“Why haven’t I thought about that before? That you just spawned,” Eret breaks the silence, his mind still trying to connect it all together. It would’ve made so much sense, if it had not been for the few contradictions in his logic.

“But Tubbo’s so big, he’s at least five! And he told us that he feels like he has memories before right?” Niki looks at Eret, her voice is a bit shaky, as she couldn’t think that what she thinks is true.

“Consider this, Niki. We haven’t met anyone who’s like that before, and I only know about it because I heard about it somewhere, so it could just be that those people don’t exist, or Tubbo is one, okay?”

“ Niki, what do you mean I’m five? I’m sixteen,” Tubbo speaks, and suddenly realizes what he just said. _Why do I think I’m sixteen? Is there a reason?_ His mind went blank and the two watch as Tubbo desync from reality. The last thing Tubbo could see is Niki and Eret runs to him, catching him before he falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, writer's block go brrr. Also, the coded names in the conversation are consistent.


	6. Fateful Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You were meant to find every person you met. Know that these people will help your journey to understand the world better, negative or positive. Learn to let go, and your end would be a happy one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: a bit violent (very small), fighting, heavy swearing, kidnapping, verbal abuse, mentions of alcohol, mentions of abusive home, mention of panic attack.

It’s been a full year since Tubbo’s welcomed in their house. Since then, his body had been a lot stronger. He faints less, and he can defend himself better. Though he does get headaches a lot and it sometimes stops him from being more productive, he’s grateful for all the improvements he’s achieved. Today, he’s helping Niki with the mining. They have a lot of health potions that the chests are filled to the brim, and they have a sustainable source of food and water, but the woman feels like it couldn’t hurt to get more ores.

“Once, Eret and I found diamonds! There was 8 of them, and we split it in half and kept them in our ender chest. That was until we decided to make good use of it and made an axe for each of us and a pickaxe to share. Back before we were exiled, we asked someone to enchant them with “mending”. They say, it could fix itself the more we use it! And it gives this nice purple glow on them,” Niki fills the air with idle chatter. She is very excited to teach Tubbo more about living in a village.

“ So enchantments make things do crazy stuff and glow?” Tubbo inquires, not sure what to make of it. After months of trying, he got rid of his natural thought process, thinking his logic had no place in this world. He learns more and more about what’s normal, while ignoring his brain’s screaming at the bizarreness of this whole dimension. He figures it’s why it’s “unlucky” to be someone who spawns in the middle of nowhere, your brain just has a wholly different logic of its own.

“ Well, we used to have an enchantment table back at the village. If you can figure out the ancient writings on the book, you can choose which enchantment you want on your stuff. If we wanted specific enchantments, we’d ask for help, but if we just felt like an upgrade, we leave it to chance. If you get lucky enough, you’d get multiple enchantments, but we can only confirm that with an enchanter, usually the librarian.” Niki explains, still walking down the stairs. The staircase to the mine was very long, added the fact that it’s a spiral one, and you get, a staircase which you’ll never know how many more steps it has unless you count them. It’s very exasperating to go through the stairs, so a buddy really helps ease the pain.

“ Where’s the mending axe? You said it couldn’t break right?” Tubbo asks, picking up his pace to go down faster.

“Well, it’s in my bag, right now. I’ll use it when there’s a monster.”

After what felt like forever, they finally reach the underground base, where they store their ores, ingots, and metal blocks. The two geared up for their quest, equipping armour and bringing healing items. (Tubbo always found it weird how eating food could heal you, and how a golden apple could make you stronger) When he stepped out of the base, he has a gift waiting for him.

“Is that a roller-coaster? That’s so pog!” Tubbo shouts, his face is glowing with excitement, seeing the tracks in front of him that seemingly go for miles away. Niki tries to ignore the weird word she thought he invented.

“We call this a minecart, Eret and I set it up while you helped with the farm. You can travel the whole mine with this. Just press the button, and a minecart will come back shortly. Then press it again while you were in the minecart, and you can just zoom away!” Niki claps her hands. She’s very excited to show this to Tubbo. Tubbo seems delighted as well, and he is raring to go on the minecart.

“ Oooh! How do we stop it though?” Tubbo starts being a bit jumpy, eyes glittering with excitement. Somehow, he feels very close to home beside this minecart, and he hears someone’s voice echoing in the cave.

“ You wanna help me build a coaster, Tubbo?”

“Tubbo?” The woman waves her hand in front of the boy’s face, when he started spacing out. Tubbo shakes his head, ignoring the sound he just heard. _Those memories aren’t real, I just spawned a year ago. The world is trying to trick me again._ “Yes, Niki?”

“ Like I said, there would be a cobblestone block for every stop, so you do have to move the minecart at each stop to move to the other, but we’ve cleared out most of the mine so we just made stops at areas we haven’t fully uncovered.” Niki patiently explains again, knowing Tubbo spaced out from the recollection of “memories before he spawned.”

“Cool, let’s ride these then to the mines!”

“Well let’s go then!”

* * *

“That was a great day! I really liked the minecarts.” Tubbo mentions as he puts away the ores they just got from the mines into the furnaces. They have collected stacks of iron and a vein of diamonds; they were pretty lucky.

“Well, I’m glad you have fun! Let’s go home, Eret’s probably waiting with our lunch right now,” Niki quickly takes off her armour and places in on the armour stand. She can’t wait to go home and tell Eret all about their day.

Tubbo follows Niki, only to hear shards of glass being broken, and liquid spraying on to them. They immediately felt very weak and slow.

“I’m very sorry guys but I have to do this,” a man in a beanie starts tying both of their hands together. The two tries to resist, but they felt very weak and slow that they couldn’t even shout for help.

“A man will come find us if you don’t let us go,” Niki speaks out, her voice almost mute, her mouth trembling. She kicks the man’s feet, only to see it barely caused a flinch.

The man starts studying Tubbo’s features, most notably his eyes. His eyes widen, mouth agape, before shouting, “Wait, you’re not Eret!”

“What’s the hold-up? Hurry up and get where we’re going! Jesus, I can’t find good help these days,” a voice rings from above the mine, echoing through their winding staircase.

“Mister President, we got a lil bit of a problem right here,”

“You always have a problem when we do these types of jobs, I could’ve used our weapon but it’s too fucking risky out here, Jesus Christ what is it?!”

“Eret’s not here, Schlatt”

“Well, one of them is good enough, we’ll take the other one later, or better yet, he comes to us trying to _save his little princesses, his damsels in distress_.” Niki could only grit her teeth when the man starts making a baby voice when referring to them. She’s had enough of people underestimating her, but right now, she was too weakened by the splash potion. Schlatt shows a sardonic smile on his face, taking note of how Niki is reacting to his presence.

The rope on their hands starts to burn their skin, as the man in the beanie gently tries to pull them upstairs. He gives off a bad aura, but he seems like he was forced to do this. The two stop resisting after a while, and let the man lead them upstairs. They figured the potion effect will fade when they reach the surface. It did not.

“Hey Quackity, Imma need you to shut the fuck up for the trip, okay? And preferably for the rest of your shitty life. And don’t tell anyone about this, not even our goons, you got that?” Schlatt orders, and Quackity simply nodded his head. He forced himself to smile, in order to not aggravate the president even more. Tubbo and Niki couldn’t help but sympathize for the poor man.

As though to help Quackity with his job, the two gladly obliged his orders, knowing deep down, he doesn’t want anything to do with this either. They walk so far away from the mines, and the mine is already far from home. Tubbo hesitantly sends a signal in Niki’s direction, _I don’t think Eret can find us._

* * *

As the night falls and they set up camp, Schlatt had down another bottle of beer, cursed the three for existing, before passing out on the log. The air tensed, as Alex walks toward Schlatt before extending his arms.

Quackity lifts Schlatt up, and walks towards his tent. There, he places him on the bed. The sickening smell of alcohol lingers in the air, and you can see traces of protein powder shakes on his suit, barely visible, but there nonetheless. The younger one wants nothing to do with the elder, but he is forced to comply with his every wish. The president reeks of the smell in an abusive home, Quackity could faintly hear the belt buckle his dad used to whip him with. He is weak in front of this man, the man who reminds him so much of his dad, both made life insufferable, but he has hope, that it will all change one day.

He exits the tent, face filled with sorrow and blues, when he noticed the two people staring at him, from across the campfire he started. They couldn’t hide the surprise in their face, as the tears roll down Quackity’s soft cheeks.

“Mister Vice President, are you okay?” Niki breaks the uncomfortable silence, snapping Quackity out of his trance. The silence was suffocating, but Quackity finds himself there all the time, unable to answer the questions made specifically for him. How he was and still is supposed to stay silent whenever people inquire him, and let Schlatt do the talking.

“I’m all fine, yessir, yessir!” Quackity forces himself to say those with a smile on his face. Years of acting okay does not help him in this situation. He knows they both could see right through him. His red nose and glassy orbs don’t help his situation either, so he gives in.

“I’m fine guys, you of all people don’t have to worry about me.” Quackity sits down, his legs cover his chest as he rests his head on his knees, trying to hide his shame. He blinks the tears in his eyes away, and wipes them with his fists.

“Quackity was it? Come on, big man. We can do whatever we want, and we want to hear what’s wrong,” Tubbo looks sincere, Alex feels very tempted to let it all out. He’s afraid, everything he valued was thrown away to follow Schlatt’s moral. His friends left him when he helped Schlatt win the election. They formed a coalition government, in which they passed all the parties and won. By all means, Schlatt was a good person, and an even better president. The people liked him. _What happened? Where did it all go wrong?_

“You know, usually people mind their own business, especially in situations like these. What, you wanna get Stockholm Syndrome?” Quackity jokes, and the three laugh together. Alex feels better about it, thinking they could’ve forgotten about his sudden spill of emotions.

“You know what? Let’s sleep for the night, I’m sure our president has a lot more commands tomorrow, and we need they energy,” Either he has really good humour, or these two can’t tell between a good joke and a bad one.

“ Yeess, we need they energy,” Tubbo follows him, making funny voices till their stomachs hurt from laughing. They completely forgot about Quackity crying (or the fact that they were supposed to be kidnapped), and make more unrelated jokes, almost crying from the pain of laughing too hard. They could swear they were lightheaded for a second.

“I’ll call it a night then,” Quackity excuses himself from the group, walking towards his tent. He lets himself fall on the bed, and close his eyes. _I really do need the energy for tomorrow._

“So what’s up with Quackity? Or Schlatt for the matter?” Tubbo questions the woman sitting beside him.

“You’ll find out soon.”

* * *

Eret sits there at the dining table, lunch already cold from hours of waiting. He couldn't shake the feeling that something very bad happened, but tries his best to ignore it. _Niki and Tubbo aren't children, I shouldn't be fussing around like a worried mother._ He laughs at the thought of him comparing himself to a parent figure, but that doesn't help him. 

The man continues to pack up the lunch in the pantry, a room filled with chests with various food they've collected over the months. Famine should be the least of their worry with stacks of food piling in the chest. After tidying the whole dining table, he scrunched his face, wondering why neither of them bothered to send him a message as to why they're late.

Eret's forehead starts sweating, his mind starts racing towards horrible places. His teeth grit, and he tries to bite his lips to soften the pain, only for it to bruise. His hands shake, thinking he should send a message, but against better judgement, decides not to. He waves his hologram open, waiting for a message to pop up, and he stares. He just stared at it, ignoring his eye strains from looking at it too long. 

He swallows hard, and whispers to Niki.

_You whisper to Niki: Is everything alright? Can you please tell me why you two aren't home yet?_

Nothing. It was seconds, then minutes, then hours. The sky is getting darker by the minute, the only thing lighting the outside of their home is the torches they've put out to keep the monsters away. The man sighs in defeat, knowing he wouldn't get an answer.

"He must've got them, there's no other explanation. I'll rest and tomorrow I'll go. Please don't hurt them Schlatt, it wasn't their fault. It was mine and mine alone." Eret talks to himself, tears running down his face, wetting his cheeks and his shirt. He falls down on his bed and now the pillowcase is wet too. He doesn't like being alone at this point of time. The silence in the house is sickening, the man having a hard time breathing from worrying too much. He was sound asleep, after his body was tired from crying.

* * *

As dawn approaches, Quackity wakes up to the sound of fighting.

“What the fucking hell are you on about?! I’m not drunk. I’m never drunk. You can’t even lift shit, bitch. You don’t know anything! ” Schlatt scolds Niki, his arms waving around mindlessly, an empty bottle can be spotted beside his log. _He’s drunk in the morning? Again?_

“Calm down, Mister President, you’re going to hurt yourself. Put the dagger down, please,” Tubbo warily comes closer to Schlatt as he reaches for the dagger. Quackity decides to watch the scene from his tent secretly.

“Tubbo, don’t go near that vicious man, God knows what he’ll do to you,” Niki immediately warns Tubbo when he’s in Schlatt’s range of attack. They would’ve run if they aren’t tied up.

Quackity looks at the sky, he sighs in defeat. _It’s barely morning, and this happened already. Can’t I have a break?_ He decides to tidy up the tent, leaving nothing behind, as they were about to continue their journey. He lets go of his bag when he hears the sound of glass breaking.

“You think you can order me around, bitch?! I’m the fucking president, and you, YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO ME!” Schlatt’s scream is already enough for Quackity to go there and break the fight. He hates the fact that he has to do this, but it’s always for the best.

“Woah woah, Schlatt, calm down. Everything is okay, they don’t think you’re drunk. They’re just joking around, man.” Quackity runs up to Schlatt, puts his hands up beside him as he moves them up and down, slowly to catch the President’s attention.

“We’re not joki-” Quackity sends a signal behind his back, motioning for the two to be quiet. _For the love of God, let me handle this situation, please._

“You fucking sure about that? Cause just know this kid here, he thinks I’m going to hurt myself with this dagger. Bitch don’t even lift; he thinks he knows shit.” Schlatt continues on rambling for god knows how long, dragging his argument further and further until it’s all just lies at this point, and Quackity beside him trying to refute and assure everything’s fine. The pair is forced to watch them fight, as they couldn’t run far with their hands tied to the nearby tree. Tubbo attempts to cut the rope, but Niki shakes her head, saying that disobeying them will just put Quackity in more trouble.

“ Okay, enough is enough, when are we going?” the sound of judgement rings in his ears. He’s in charge of everything for this trip.

“We can go now if you’d like, Schlatt, I packed up all of our stuff.” His voice nearly breaks under the pressure, he’s stressed out.

“Thank you for being a good help for once in your goddamn life,” it hurts, it does. But he can’t deny the man. The fight will ensue if he does.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” a voice shouts out from behind. They all turn to look.

“Who are you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's block is very brrring right now, sorry for the late update.  
> There's a reason why I decided to implement very game-like features in the story, like the crafting, the orphans, and food not spoiling. You'll see why.  
> Also, I added some headcanons of my own to shape my story, this is not based on the canon Dream SMP lore at all at this point.


	7. Illusive Haven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a reason someone coined the term “false sense of security”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: mild depiction of violence, swearing, mention of alcohol, mention of mind control/brainwash, implied missing person

“Answer my question first,” the boy stares at the group, eyes moving from Schlatt, to Quackity, to the rope he’s holding, to the pair tied to it. He’s aiming a crossbow at Schlatt, waiting for an answer.

“Well, we’re going away from you, kid. What the hell do you want?”, Schlatt bellows, before pulling out his own crossbow and pointing its end to the teen. He stands upright, correcting his posture before saying, “I want you to let them go. Or there will be consequences.”

He pulls the string and locking it in place, signaling he could let it go at any moment. Schlatt takes it as a challenge, and copies him. They stare at each other, waiting for the other to make their move. Alex decides to move the hostages away from them, possibly running when there is enough distraction. He’ll figure something out surely.

“Coward,” Schlatt murmurs, before letting go of the arrow, and it tears the boy’s pants a bit. It isn’t bleeding, but he could feel the heat of the arrow narrowly missing him. He pretends to shoot Schlatt, causing Schlatt to maneuver to the right, and splashes a slowness potion before a weakness one. The president could only chuckle at his strategy, _The very same strategy that person uses, huh? Guess I found them._

“Okay, okay, I’ll let the two go. You’ll take them to your home, right?” he takes a sip from a bottle, though it was opaque so the teen isn’t sure what he’s drinking.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, can’t an adult with power ask a fucking stick boy whatever he wants?” his aura is unpleasant, his eyes demanding, his body twitching.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Don’t make me kill you, bitch. Respawn doesn’t work anymore,” the younger one shouted, his anger rises as he puts his crossbow on his waist and takes out a sword. He starts seeing red, and charges for the man.

He got a couple of hits on the man, but he isn’t faring any better. Even though he splashed the guy with harmful potions, he doesn’t seem to have any of the negative effects he should be having. A dagger sweeps his cheeks, and blood comes pouring out. He swipes it off with his hands, and continue to fight.

That is until Schlatt just chokes his neck and say, “Stop it, you’re acting like a fucking idiot,” He stares into the window of the boy’s soul. He’s scared, but he’s acting tough. He knows it well, _very_ well. The man abruptly drops the boy on the earthy floor, making him fall face first on the dirt. All he could do is stand up again, without initiating another fight, he couldn’t afford to die here, not now.

“Just take these two and go about your day, you’re not worth it anyway,” the boy could only clench his fists before gesturing the pair to come along. His eyes were red, from getting choked too hard. They are reluctant, of course, seeing Quackity’s face drops, thinking how Schlatt would punish him later. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”

“Oh, but I will,” Schlatt shoots Niki and Tubbo, and they fall to the ground. The time felt frozen for a minute, just a minute, before he could hear a loud thud. He rushes forward to attack Schlatt, only to be splashed with a slowness potion.

“Bite it, pussy,” Schlatt spits, “the _bitterness_ of your own medicine.” The boy could only stare at him, as he takes Niki away from them. _I’ll get her, just you wait, bitch._ Tubbo is still unconscious beside him, and hoisted him onto his shoulders. The process was slow, what with the effect still lingering around him, faint particle bubbles dancing around the poor boy. “We’ll find your mother soon, if it’s the last thing I do.”

* * *

“Hey Wilbur, how long has Tommy been out? I’m starting to get worried…” Philza lets out a sigh, wondering where his son is. History can’t repeat itself, it just can’t. He wouldn’t be able to face it.

“It’s okay Phil, Tommy literally just whispered to me. He says he’s coming home soon with a surprise!” Wilbur just smiles, thinking about the gift Tommy will arrive home with, a stack of ingots, or a new enchanted sword, anything really.

Then Tommy comes in, and both men drop their jaws. “Surpriise..”, he says before letting go of the person on his back. This is very different from what Wilbur had pictured it to be. Tommy lays the boy on the sofa, and Wilbur could see his torso had been crudely bandaged. “I was hit with a slowness potion to be fair, it just worn out seconds ago.” The perfect answer to his question, his mind is practically see-through.

“Who’s the boy, Tommy? What happened to both of you?”, Philza stands up and moves to the injured boy, cutting off the bandage, revealing an arrow hole in the center of his chest. It told a whole story, but not enough to know what’s going on.

“Some alcoholic asshole tried to kidnap him and his mother, and I tried to save them. Worst case scenario happened, and here we are.” Tommy runs over to their potion stash, and takes a bottle of healing one. Wilbur on the other hand, is trying his best to aid his father. “Well, I wouldn’t say worst case scenario but it’s pretty much there.”

“Does he have a companion? The alcoholic one?” Phil asks, which made Tommy raise an eyebrow. _What’s the significance of that? Does Phil know something?_

“Yes, he does…. He wears a beanie like Wilbur, bit of a pushover the way I see it. Pretty much lets that Schlatt guy walk all over him.” Tommy crosses his arms, feeling a bit uncomfortable by the question.

“How do you know what’s his name?”

“Well, that beanie guy and the hostages referred to him like that. Safe to say the alcoholic asshole is Schlatt, don’t you think?”

“That can’t be… He can’t be, right?” Phil shakes his head, making his sons look at each other. Questions arise but Wilbur shut it down to “Phil’s personal business”, and Tommy agrees.

“Well, whatever it is, we need to save the woman! She was shot as well,” Tommy goes to Phil, who seems pretty out of it, but does his best to heal Tubbo. “We can save the mother later, Tommy. Right now, we’ll let the boy rest in… his room and we’ll see if he’s any better tomorrow.”

The boy gladly obliged, carrying Tubbo in an empty room and lays him on the bed. Tommy looks around in the room, and lets out a deep sigh. _I’m sure you wouldn’t have let a stranger in your room, but I hope you can excuse him._ He exits the room, the emptiness in his heart growing, longing for the owner to come back, even just for a day. He misses him so much.

* * *

“Hey, Schlatt? Why did you do that?” Quackity breaks the silence with an awkward question. They had just arrived at their country, once a beautiful place, everyone who’s heard of it wanted to be here, _wanted._ The spark is gone, and the people’s morale is very low. Quackity hates it, but he couldn’t change anything even if he wanted to.

“Well, that bitch who challenged me? He’s of utmost importance now, I’m pretty sure. So I put that magic dust on the arrow that hit him, now we should be… aha! Able to track wherever he is.” Schlatt pulls out a compass, now glowing in a faint purple light, like it was enchanted. _It seems the arrow points to Tubbo, if Schlatt is right._

“Why is he important? Why track Tubbo instead of the boy?” Quackity raises his eyebrow, unsure of what to make of it. Schlatt had always been a bit hard to decode, given his abrupt change a few years ago, but this is downright outrageous.

“Well, that boy is a relative of our very weapon, _him._ I couldn’t afford to have him permanently dead, what with respawn not working. And we wouldn’t want to lose Tubbo either, or I couldn’t get to see them begging for this compass,” Schlatt’s eye twitches, his plan is absurd and evil, perfect to torture the man who has wronged him. Quackity could never understand what Eret had ever done to deserve this, but Schlatt had convinced him that it was worse than what Schlatt could ever do. He obviously doubts it, but couldn’t question it any further.

“If you insist, Mister President. You’re always right,”

“Of course I am, now put that bitch in her cell, and make sure she couldn’t wave her left hand, _we wouldn’t want her to contact anyone now, would we?”_

“Yes, Mister President, I understand,” Schlatt left Alex alone in the hall. He proceeds to open a hidden trapdoor underneath a carpet, which reveals a staircase leading towards a basement. The place is generally empty, just a person on one end, who has his left hand tied to the wall, and a table with a basket of fruits, almost rotten. Quackity puts Niki down and does as he was instructed.

>Niki is now located opposite of the guy; her left hand is also tied to the wall.

Exiting the area, though he is carrying less than he was, his footsteps are heavier. He’s not sure what it is, but his emotions are swirling, like a hurricane above raging water, coupled with a few thunderclouds ready to start a storm. He’s filled with anger, for being a fool to think things would be better, sadness, that he’s doing things against his will, and against his old principles, and regret, that he agreed to combine his votes with Schlatt’s, the cause of their victory, is now the cause of his own misery.

* * *

Tubbo’s head is pounding, but he could hear voices, ones he could recognize, but couldn’t put a name to it.

**PlR1YmJvISBDYW4geW91IGhlYXIgbWU/IEd1eXMgaGlzIGV5ZXMgYXJlIHNjcnVuY2hpbmchCj5Ub21teSBiZSBjYXJlZnVsLCB3ZSB3b3VsZG7igJl0IHdhbnQgdG8gaHVydCBoaW0sIGhlIG11c3QgYmUgdmVyeSBvdXQgb2YgaXQuCj5XaG8gY2FyZXM/IEhl4oCZcyByZWFjdGluZywgaGXigJlzIG5vdCBpbiBNaW5lY3JhZnQgYW55bW9yZSBpcyBoZT8KPldl4oCZcmUgbm90IHN1cmUgeWV0LCBidXQgYXQgbGVhc3QgaGXigJlzIG5vdCBhcyBhcGFydCBmcm9tIGhpcyBzZWxmIHRoYW4gd2UgdGhvdWdodC4KPklzIHRoYXQgYSBnb29kIHNpZ24/IFdvdWxkIGhlIHdha2UgdXAgc29vbj8KPknigJltIHNvcnJ5LCBzaXIsIGJ1dCBhbGwgd2UgY291bGQgZG8gbm93IGlzIHdpc2ggaXQgaXMuIElmIHRoZSByZXBvcnRzIGFyZSByaWdodCwgdGhlIG1vcmUgaGUgZmVlbHMgY29ubmVjdGVkIHRvIHRoaXMgd29ybGQsIHRoZSB3ZWFrZXIgaGUgaXMgaW4gdGhlIGdhbWUuIEFuZCBJIGNhbuKAmXQganVzdCBjb2RlIGEgc291bCwgdGhhdOKAmXMgaW5odW1hbmUuIEhpcyBjaGFyYWN0ZXIgaXNu4oCZdCBldmVuIGFwcGVhcmluZyBvbiB0aGUgc2NyaXB0IQo+VGhhdOKAmXMgdGVycmlibGUsIEkgd2lzaCB5b3UgdGhlIHZlcnkgYmVzdC4gUGxlYXNlIHNhdmUgb3VyIHNvbi4KPkkgd2lsbCB0cnkgdG8sIHRoYW5rIHlvdS4KPkkgdGhpbmsgaXTigJlzIGJlc3QgdG8gbGVhdmUgRHJlYW0gYWxvbmUgZm9yIG5vdywgaGUgbmVlZHMgdG8gZm9jdXMuIElmIGFueXRoaW5nLCB5b3UgY2FuIHJpbmcgdXMhCj5PZiBjb3Vyc2UsIHRoYW5rIHlvdS4gKnNpZ2gqIEnigJl2ZSBnb3R0YSBkbyB0aGlzLCBub3cuCg==**

Tubbo shakes his head, not sure what to make of the conversation he just heard. A friend? He always hears some sort of discussion, regarding him, every time he’s about to wake from a concussion. He figures it is just his brain messing with him, though it does seem to distort more and more, making him not even sure what these people were talking about. He just hears his name floating above, like the hot topic of some gossip magazine.

“Hello? Are you okay now?” A familiar voice, not distorted, asks about his condition. _Am I okay? Can I say anything?_ His mouth opens, but not a peep comes out of it.

“Take it easy, you’re still recovering,” the voice speaks out again. He squinted his eyes, head still dizzy while helping himself sit. “Yeah, I… I think…. I think I am okay now.”

He opens up his eyes, revealing a man in a beanie, but not Quackity, in front of him with a tray. This place is very familiar, not the house, but his situation. Head still pounding, a man with a tray of food in front of him, and swirly vision that makes the room unclear to his eyes.

“I got you some water and a loaf of bread, I heard bread is very good for nauseous people, not that you are, but I assume that’s the case,” his voice is so low, it’s like he’s whispering. Tubbo appreciates that, taking the bottle of water from the tray, and sipping it slowly. The man aids him, lifting the bottle of water slowly. When he’s done, he pulls the bread apart to bits, and Tubbo eats the pieces little by little.

“My name is Wilbur, the boy that saved you is Tommy, he’s currently out finding more resources, or so he claims and uh… yeah,” the air tensed a bit, with both feeling very awkward about their situation. “Well, let’s head down and see where we go from there,”

“If you insist,”

“It’s okay, we’ll make sure you’re safe,” the words are loud and clear, very similar to the ones Eret and Niki used to say to him. Speaking of which, where are they? Are they safe? Tubbo is not liking his predicament, trapped in a mind with defiant logic, and the unfortunate circumstances that have brought everyone around him in trouble. Although, he does make the best of his situation, every time he pulls it off. _And I’ll go through this again, as many times as I could._

* * *

“Hey Niki, I think you should eat,” Quackity taps the woman’s shoulders, ushering a tray onto her lap.

“I’m not eating your food, Mister Vice President,” Niki answers, her voice intentionally condescending. She doesn’t feel like forgiving Quackity just yet, after chaining her hand to the wall, making her unable to escape, or call for help.

“Come on now, I wouldn’t want you starving. Please,” he pleads, bringing the tray closer to Niki, while still maintaining their distance, he doesn’t want to make the woman more uncomfortable.

“What about that man? Aren’t you going to feed him too?” Niki looks at the man across her. His eyes are covered with white cloth, like it was bandaged. His hair droops over his shoulders, covering a part of his face a bit. The odd part is his vibrant pink hair, and if Niki squints her eyes enough, she can see something poking out on either side of his head. He wears what looks like royal attire, if not for how ragged and torn it is. He seems very calm, never spoken a word, even when Niki notices his head moving around like he’s awake. His covered eyes don’t help Niki tell if he’s conscious or not.

“I’ll feed that man later, I’m…. I’m sure he doesn’t mind. You haven’t eaten anything for a day now.”

“Yeah sure, I don’t mind. It’s not like I’m starving right now,” a deep voice speaks out, and he immediately twitches before he stops moving entirely. Niki is shocked by what happened, and immediately turns toward Quackity for some sort of explanation.

“He’s…. He’s a government secret. A powerful weapon. I don’t know how Schlatt found out about him, but he did. The president’s trying to get him under his control, but he’s…. he’s too stubborn, got a good head on his shoulders. So Schlatt just wraps his eyes to limit his vision, and that proves quite successful. He’s also shot with some sort of sedatives every time he defies our orders. His eyes seem to trigger some sort of… principles of his own, so blinding him does help falsify his sense of justice a bit, but he does happen to be very, very dangerous. From what I’ve heard, he singlehandedly threw down a government. An anarchist, I believe. Schlatt did somehow manage to bring him here and I wonder why he would even listen to a President.”

Niki listens patiently, not a whisper while Quackity speaks out his long explanation. To Niki, it is somehow sufficed, but also doesn’t explain anything. It managed to be both in Niki’s head. But one question is louder than the others. “What would you do to him once you get him under control?”

“That’s for us to find out. It’s been a year since Schlatt got him,”

* * *

Eret steps over to what looks like a campsite. A nearby tree looks like it had some sort of burn, and the grass beside it indicates a fight happened somewhat recently.

He looks closer to the ground, noticing pieces of glass shards, and a faint blood mark on the grass’s blades. Taking his chances, he walks into the tent and immediately recognizes the smell. _Ugh... Alcohol, and a surplus of protein powder on the ground. It must be him._

He stops for a moment, thinking about the patch of blood’s owner, and what caused it. There just isn’t enough evidence, but there are signs of potions being used, so Eret figures that harmful potions were at play here.

Walking out of that suffocating tent, he sees two trails leading opposite of each other. He wonders which one he should go through, and stands there for a bit. Both leads to one of them surely right? Or are they still together and one path leads to an intruder?

He decides to use the campsite to rest for the night, and plans his next move from there. He uses the other tent, which isn’t as suffocating, not at all actually, and set his bed down there.

_Which path should I go? Or should I just go back to that country and see if they’re there? What should I do?_

Eret’s pondering is stopped by a loud sound outside the tent. He peeks outside, and immediately drops his jaws.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very sorry for the late update! I’m actually also busy with school, cause that’s a thing. Check out Late August! I got my Technoblade design from him, (with permission of course!)  
> [ His Youtube  
>  ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYNdP0iy6rP6CTJ-4BG05Kg)[ His Instagram  
>  ](https://www.instagram.com/late_august_/)[ His Twitter  
> ](https://twitter.com/late_august_)   
> I also recommend watching his animatic “Innocence” a lot, cause it just super poggers!  
> Again, I would appreciate any corrections or suggestions!  
> 


	8. Blank Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> False hopes. Fake names. Lost souls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Implied self-blaming, infighting, memory loss, threats, missing person, swearing, light panic attack

“Hey Dream Check it out!!” Sapnap calls out from the front door. He appears to be waving something in his hand rapidly. >Walk towards Sapnap

“What is it?” Dream takes the item from Sapnap’s hand. It appears to be a blank mask, with a buckle strap. Dream hovers his other hand over it, lightly grazing the wooden piece. It’s neither thick nor thin, it’s just right.

“Well, I don’t know. I mean I know it’s a mask, but I feel like it’d be important to you, you know? Just a strange gut feeling I had,” Sapnap walk towards the bottle of ink and draws a smiley face on said mask. “Now you can smile, even if you don’t feel like it!”

>Apologize to Sapnap.

“….Hey Sapnap,”

>Apologize to Sapnap

“Yeah, Dream?”

>Apologize to Sapnap

“I just want to say,… umm”

>Apologize to Sapnap 

“Dream, take your time, what is it?” Sapnap starts motioning his friend to take a seat on the sofa, and draws circles on Dream’s back, attempting to calm him down.

>Apologize to Sapnap

“….”

>Just apologize to Sapnap, you dickhead. Is it that hard?

“…..”

>APOLOGIZE, RIGHT NOW

“I... I am very… Sapnap, I’m so so,…why is it so hard?” His eyes start tearing, as a line of water runs across his face. It is slow, yet still painful to see. Sapnap shushes his friend, hugging him and patting his back. His shoulder wets from Dream’s tears, as he plants his face on him, crying even harder.

_Look what you’ve done. LOOK AT THIS. You’re supposed to say sorry, not trouble him more by starting a fucking river on his shoulders. He has a lot on his hands, you know? What with George…………. George. He’s not gone. But you’ve given up hope, because that’s what you are, a piece of shit, who quite frankly, can’t keep his shit together. Sapnap should’ve just let you go, thank fucking god he’s such a nice friend. What have you done for him, dipshit?_

“Dream? Dream you’re shaking, are you okay?”

>Let go of the hug.

“…. Sapnap, please…ple-please *sniffs* stay..,”

>That is the absolute fucking opposite of letting go, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

“It’s okay Dream, I’ll always be with you, no matter what,”

The tears stop, but the hug doesn’t. Dream’s mind keeps telling him to let go, that he didn’t and still doesn’t deserve this, that Sapnap was too good for him, and how much of an asshat he’s being by troubling him. He can handle himself, Sapnap doesn’t need to worry about him, he deserves hate, not love.

But Sapnap stays, as long as he wants, and Dream falls asleep hugging. He notices how Dream is pressing him, and checks if he’s asleep. Once he did, he carries Dream to his bed like always, hoping he would eat the dinner the man would serve.

* * *

“Hey there, Niki was it? You don’t have to worry about me,” the man says, facing in her general direction. Niki takes in his features one more time, now that his hair is not covering his face as much. Her mouth widens when she realizes his ears are the ones poking from either side of his head, and they look like piglin’s ears.

“What’s your name? What should I call you?”

“It’s sad to think about it, but my memory has been very cloudy as of late. I don’t even remember my name. Maybe you can give me a nickna- on second thought, that’s a very bad idea,” his deep and raspy voice makes him sound very bitter, but Niki is sure he didn’t mean any harm.

“I think I’ll call you…David, if you’re okay with it.”

“I’m…. having a slight amount of what you call, mixed feelings about this, but just slightly, you know, slightly. Why David?”

“Well, it’s the first name that came to mind, I couldn’t think of anything else,”

“I guess it’s better than not having a name huh? David it is, then.”

“Why did you listen to a President, David? I heard you are an anarchist, and _not to be rude but_ what’s with your outfit?”

“Now we don’t have time to unpack that can of worms so moving on, how was your day?” David responds rather hastily, his voice squeaks a bit, it’s clear how uncomfortable he is. Niki decides she wouldn’t ask that question again, and let the man tell her when he’s ready.

“How long has it been since you’ve eaten anything?”

“Listen, Niki, it’s fine. You don’t have to bother Quackity to feed me,” he shuts off the conversation with a cold statement. He attempts to turn away from Niki, but the truth of the matter is they’re opposite of each other, and with a hand tied to the wall, he can only turn his head.

“I’m sorry, David. I just… I just wanted to talk, but that didn’t work,” Niki looks down, her body aches from how long she’s sitting on the hard wooden floor, with her hand slightly raised from being chained to the wall. David is sure he isn’t faring any better, since according to Niki, it’s been a year already.

"You know, Niki, I'm sure you have something else to talk about. You should know why you're here."

They sit in uncomfortable silence for god knows how long, until footsteps can be heard coming down the staircase. Niki looks at the figure standing above her, the blinding light from the trapdoor makes his face unrecognizable, though his voice could only belong to one.

“Hey there, I hope I didn’t take too long to come here,”

* * *

Tubbo looks around the room. There’s nothing strange about the house, except for the pictures. He unintentionally stares at one, moving towards it until he can get a better view. It looks like a king, with a golden crown, holding a diamond sword with its tip pointing towards the ground. He has long pink hair, which is drooping over his shoulders. Tubbo figures it is for formality’s sake, since the other smaller pictures entail him wearing a ponytail. He looks at his face, well his non-face that is, since his face is covered with paper. _I wonder why, what did this king do them? They look very happy together, well I can’t say anything about him since his face is covered and all._

“That’s Technoblade, we… we don’t talk about him in this house.” Tubbo jumps a little, surprised by the sudden voice. A teen in red, Tommy?, is standing beside him. He looks at the portrait for a while, and silently sighs.

“Well, I’m Tommy! Remember the massive man that saved your life yesterday? Yeaaah, that was me. I know, I know, no need to thank me, you’re welcome.”

“I’m Tubbo, nice to meet you?”

“Nice to meet you too, Tubbo. How are you, my friend? Come walk with me,” though he just arrived home, Tommy starts unlocking the front door, gesturing to follow him as well.

“I’m fine, where are we going?” Tubbo speeds himself to catch up, his breath a bit shaky while uttering words.

“Well, nowhere. Just a stroll around the village. Keeps the pep in your step, ay?” Tommy skips for a second, then turns around to Tubbo. They are making eye contact, though Tubbo’s eyes seem to go through the boy in front of him, god knows where it lands right now.

“Tubbo?” Tommy rubs the aforementioned boy’s arm, and he jumps slightly.

“Yeah, uh Tommy? Where’s Niki? The… The woman with me?”

Fear fills his heart as only silence ensues.

Tubbo feels like he knows what happened, but decides not to say anything. Seeing how Tubbo isn't expecting an answer, Tommy starts rambling about what he sees around the village instead. They share a few laughs, and played with the kids. That is until Tommy decides to venture into the forest near the village, and makes Tubbo join him as well.

* * *

“Hey Dream, can you come here for a sec?”

“Sure, what’s up?” the words uttered bewilders him, how he sounds so cheery, like he used to be.

“I got another letter, from WNC. It’s uh… It’s about the respawn not working.”

“And what about it?” his upbeat attitude is still there, though he can feel the weight in his voice. Strange it is, that he’s not in control of what’s happening.

“They… (how do I say this?) umm…. They request full cooperation, that is to say… They want us to,”

“Just tell me what it is, Sapnap. It can’t be that bad, right?” He’s…. very positive? He sounds so high in the skies, like nothing could bother him. Not the world, not permanent death, not his _friend_ permanently dying. Nothing.

“They want us to give those affected strongly, to quote them, “be sent to their research lab, to stop them from permanently dying,” and they want them by next week. If we’re late, the affected that are found would be…” Sapnap looks out the window for a minute. Dream dares not to break the silence. He gestures to Sapnap, to give him the letter, let him read it firsthand.

“sent to their graves instead, and force would be used if necessary,” he lets out a deep sigh, and passes the letter. _It’s true? Why go to such lengths?_

“We’ll start packing for George tomorrow, the sooner the better. If you want to prepare, kiss him goodbye or something, do it tonight,” Sapnap heads for the pantry, packing necessities for the journey. Their house is very far from natural spawn. They’ve never even been there; you only get there if you die without a bed to come back to. Most orphans end up there, civilization happens and there’s a village filled with orphans of the past. Orphanage and people taking orphan as they would a child, it’s very normal there. According to the last letter, that’s where the research lab is located.

“Why, why are you okay with this?” this sounds more familiar, the guilt dripping down his eyes, trembling hands as they try to reach for words that are so near yet so far. Sapnap has been so reasonable with him, but it’s not like him to just bend to… such orders. To send their friend to a research lab? How could they guarantee each affected’s survival?

“Do you think I could be so stupid? I wouldn’t have done this if we had any other choice. BUT WE DON’T, DREAM! PLEASE realize our situation, we have no power this time, not this time. Yes, you’re good at fighting, but you’d just bring a knife to a gun fight. You’ll lose, Dream,” his voice starts cracking, hands grabbing each side of his friend, shaking him vigorously. Tear tracks start getting more visible by each second, as both could not seem to even let a peep out of their mouth.

“Please, Sapnap, there must be a way, I… I am desperate, Sapnap. This is a mistake I must fix by myself,” he starts kneeling on the ground, begging Sapnap to not go through with it. The WNC could bring hell upon Dream and he would still try to fight back. To correct what he has done. It is his wrong, not anyone else’s, so it is his responsibility, to make it right. But Sapnap refused.

“How on fucking earth, do you think, I would just give away our dearest friend, one who apparently took your sanity with him when he almost _died_ permanently, if I thought there’s another way? You think, _oh I’m Dream, I almost killed my friend permanently, I’m the one who broke the respawn thing, oh no, I am so desperate, Sapnap please,_ do you have any idea, any idea at all, how desperate I am as well? You’ve been so selfish lately, you think you’re helping other people by leaving us alone, in truth you’re hurting me, so so much. I’ve tried everything to understand you, but now, you’ve just crossed the line.” Sapnap finally breaks, after more than a year or putting up what feels like a brat, taking care of two people this whole time, one who should be helping him just burdens him more, and he’s having none of that right now.

“Sapnap… I- I am very, truly sorry for troubling you, for hurting you all this time. It was so hard to say sorry, before, I just, I can’t, I, just…. Please, just this once. Let me go, I’ll leave you alone, find new friends, the village is filled with them, just for a year or two, until WNC says otherwise,” Dream begs, his stuttering almost made his word incomprehensible, but it is clear enough for Sapnap to get the point. Though it isn’t enough to change his mind.

A shadow suddenly looms over the two, though only Dream sees it. His eyes are red like blood, fangs sharp like a sabertooth, and his shape inhuman. “You think you’d be enough, Dream? Enough to beat me? You face your own mistakes so poorly, like a rat in the sewer scavenging for food, always taking but never giving, killing his family in the process. Greedy. You act like the world revolves around you, and you only. You are naught but a delusional fool.”

Dream starts pressing his palms on his ears, shouting, asking for the shadow to stop, begging Sapnap for forgiveness, his tears wet the floor that there’s a visible puddle right under him. He tries to stand up, but slips on his own tears. He’s powerless, but he doesn’t want to admit it. His beg, his tears, his pain, it causes more problems than it does solve. It just hurts, it hurts so much. To realize there are just things you can’t control, even if the world revolves around you.

“Stop it, Dream. Get packing already,” Sapnap’s voice is full of hatred, Dream tries to forgive him because it isn’t his fault. It never is.

“Dream?” Sapnap asks, but his voice sounds different.

“Dream?” Sapnap calls out to him, like they weren’t just in a conversation.

“Dream?” Sapnap tugs his arms, as if to wake him from a trance.

“I’m sorry, Sapnap,” Dream realizes his voice sounds…. Like he was sleeping. Was he? He shakes his head and sees himself in a bed, Sapnap trying to wake him up. His body feels sticky, it’s drenched in sweat.

“It’s okay, Dream, come down for dinner. I’m sure you’ll feel better in no time!” Sapnap cheers a bit, supporting his friend as he tries to stand up from the bed. In doing so, something accidentally fell out of his inventory.

“Is that a letter?” Dream eyes the object curiously, obviously it’s a letter but it shows signs of tear, like it has been read. It has a familiar wax seal. He reaches out for it, but Sapnap pulls him away.

“That letter is not important, Dream! We’ll talk about it later,” He pushes Dream out of the room, followed by nervous chuckles as he closes the door with more force than intended.

_I guess there was a truth in that nightmare._

* * *

“Eret!” Niki half-shouts, not wanting to alert anyone else but him.

“I knew you’d be here, but where’s Tubbo?” Eret sits closer to Niki, and whispers near her ear. Niki shrugs her shoulders, and sighs in defeat. She was knocked out pretty badly at the campsite. God knows how Eret discovers… How does Eret know about this room?

“Hey Eret, how did you find this room? Isn’t it hidden?” Niki looks at the man, his eyes though covered with sunglasses, reeks of fear and guilt. His forehead starts to sweat a bit, but he just answers with, “You’ll know soon, we need to get out of here first.”

David who’s sitting opposite her, listens to the two. His eyes may be covered but he could feel their stare piercing through him. He shakes his head, then says, “The name’s David. Your friend there gave it to me. Nice to meet you.”

His voice has always been monotonous, but he sounds so dull right now. Though they try to let it go, it instead writhes under their skin with a trail of guilt to boost its movement.

“How can I get you out? We have to hurry and not cause any rackets,”

“Well, why don’t I just ruin your plan before you think you can get anywhere else?” Schlatt taps Eret's shoulders, which made him jump a bit. He draws his sword and faces Schlatt reflexively.

“Was I not right? That your prince in _shining armour,_ who’s lacking said armour, would save his damsel in distress? But where’s the other one?, you may ask,” Schlatt pauses, circles around Eret like the moon orbiting the earth, eyeing his stature, his position, possibly to find weak spots.

“Well, I have him right here.” The man pulls out a compass, and swings the metal chain. Its purple glow indicates there’s in fact, a person the compass is tracking. Eret grits his teeth, knowing full well what Schlatt is attempting to do. A bargain.

“So what’s the deal? Either Niki or Tubbo, I’m presuming?”

“You know it wouldn’t be that easy, no. You can save Niki, maybe uh, David over there as well, but Tubbo, oh Tubbo wouldn’t be safe,”

“What are you implying?”

“I’m implying that this COMPASS, THIS COMPASS RIGHT HERE! Ohoho, you shouldn’t have messed with me. This compass, pointing the exact location of your dear, dear son, Tubbo, would be given to my elite hunters. And they would bring me his head. Be grateful for the respawn not working, that Tubbo, would die permanently, instead of going to the orphanage like he should.”

Eret gasps. He wants to save Niki, and maybe the guy as well, but, at the cost of Tubbo’s life? The poor boy really is unlucky, to spawn in the middle of nowhere, and when the respawn broke. How did it break in the first place? “What’s the other option?”

“You get this compass, leave my country forever, get your Tubbo, but, and this is a big but, Niki would have to count her last days being alive. Te- David on the other hand, would be spared. He’s not in this part of the deal.”

_What am I supposed to do? Maybe I can fight the hunters off, but I wouldn’t know where Tubbo is. Schlatt doesn’t seem to care about with David, is there a reason he’s here? What should I do? Why am I always forced to make decisions?_

“Time’s up. What’s your choice?”

* * *

“Tommy, we’ve been walking for hours, should we not go back?” Tubbo asks, looking behind him and following the trail Tommy left as guidance.

“Come on, big man. It’s only been a half an hour, we haven’t reach the other side of the forest yet.”

“Where are we even going? You said a stroll around the village and now we’re half deep in this forest with only your trail to lead us.”

“You, my friend, need to calm down. Here,” he splashed them both. Now they’re covered in off-white particles. “now we flow sall, I meant flow, slow fall,”

Tommy climbs up a tree until he’s at its peak, and lets go of the branch. Tubbo rushes to help him, but is amazed by how he slowly touches the ground. The boy in red then takes the other’s hand, and insist he joins him. They ended up doing this until the effects wear off.

“Who taught you how to brew potions? I saw you use some at the campsite, too!” Tubbo’s eyes sparkle in excitement and curiosity, making Tommy give in and tell him a long, very long story.

“It was Technoblade, the one with his face covered in the pictures. He… He had a way of fighting. Strengthen yourself, weaken your enemies. He’s great without the potions, but finds himself better with it. He’d make speed, fire res, strength, whatever that can help boost himself. And harmful potions as well for the enemies. I want to be like him, wanted now I guess. I can’t even take strength potions anymore; it reminds me too much of him.”

“I’m sure he’s fine, Tommy! Maybe, maybe we can help each other, you know? I help you find Technoblade, and you help me find Niki! We’re going to be alright,” as assuring as the words may seem, Tommy is still hesitant.

“Tubbo, I’m sure you mean well, but… I think he’s dead. Permanently.”

“You know what? You uh… You don’t actually know, right? So why don’t we make a little quest, to prove you wrong? I’m sure he’s going to appear at any moment if we try hard enough!”

“Maybe you’re right, Tubbo. I hope you’re right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been weeks since I updated, and I'm just going to say, to those who are still reading my story, I might have to put it on hold to focus on school, since for me, school would be starting in a month if it goes to plan. Thank you so much for reading this, since I never thought I would even pass 10 peeps. If you don't feel like waiting and are an author, I give full permission to write your version of this story. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	9. Not An Actual Chapter, Just An Update

Hello, people who read this story!

Unfortunately, I've no interest in continuing this particular story. I still like the plot, maybe in the future I will write this story again, but better? If you know what I'm saying. There are just something's I feel like writing differently, but it'll somewhat ruin the future of the story, so I'm thinking of rewriting the whole story. Like I said, full permission to other authors to write your version as well. That hasn't changed.

Thank you for following this story but I'm afraid it ends here. If I do rewrite it, it'll be the same title, and I'll have this one as (the original version). If possible, maybe comment on what you want to be different, I might take your suggestions, (credits will be given in end chapter notes).

Sorry for any misspellings and grammar mistakes, it's very late but I want to put this out here.

Till then, goodbye!


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